‘The impacts of Austerity on communities in Haringey” TAP invited to contribute to debate Monday 15th July starting 8pm at full Haringey Council meeting https://haringey.public-i.tv/core/portal/home

This is a summary of what I will be saying

I am all too well aware the same or similar circumtances apply to all social security claimants and some small businessed throughout the UK

Residential communties are destroyed by the toxic mixture of high value land being grabbed from under their homes by national and international developers, their ever increasing rents and stalled or shredded low incomes. Communtiues of small businesses also suffer from the abuse of power by land grabbers and, in addition, from the greedy linking of their rents to the increasing value of land by landords.

First a flood of national and international money has been allowed to buy any amount of British land in limited supply since the 1980s The unlimited international and national demand from wealthy people and institutions for British land has forced up land values in a way that has allowed vast untaxed and unearned fortunes to be created for already very wealthy and very large land owners.

At the same time the ever rising value of land has resulted in ever rising level at f unaffordable rents for the lowest to middle income tenants.

Secondly increases in low to middle incomes in work have stalled. The adult social security incomes for tenants have been allowed to lose value since 1979. On top of that all social security been deliberately shredded by central government since 2010.

The toxic mixture of higher and higher land values pushing rents upwards while the level of incomes has stalled in work, or been shredded in umemployment, is creating debt and hunger, mental and physical illness, shortened adult lives and caused a rise in infant deaths.

The increasing homelessness of both families in temporary accommodation and of individuals on the streets is epidemic and a national emergency.

There are moral principles on which social security ought to be based.

The full text of what I shall say will be on the TAP website by tea time on Monday.